Ashley Cole says there are "no egos" at Chelsea and believes the senior players will quickly adapt to life under the new manager André Villas-Boas.
At just 33, the Portuguese coach will be the youngest manager in the Premier League next season, having been appointed successor to the experienced Italian Carlo Ancelotti. After leaving Porto, where he secured domestic and Europa League success last season, it has been suggested Villas-Boas will find it difficult to command respect among the older squad members.
However, Cole, 30, feels Villas-Boas – no stranger to many of the players from his time at Stamford Bridge as a part of José Mourinho's backroom staff – will soon settle into his new role.
"Age is just a number, he has experience of being at Porto, a big club," Cole said in an interview with Sky Sports News. "Hopefully he can bring that glory to Chelsea, but I don't think the age thing is anything to worry about, I don't think the players think about that. He is our manager now and we have to go out and fight for him.
"Whatever manager comes in we respect him, we are not kids, everyone thinks there are egos at Chelsea, but there aren't and we have to make Chelsea the squad of a few years ago and win trophies."
The Chelsea players will return to the Cobham training ground for the start of pre-season training this week, with Villas-Boas maintaining there would be no immediate transfers or new arrivals until he had time to fully assess the current group, with a tour to the Far East ahead of the Asia Trophy coming up.
The Brazil international Neymar, Anderlecht's 18-year-old Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, Tottenham Hotspur's Croatia midfielder Luka Modric as well as the Porto duo Radamel Falcao and João Moutinho are all reported targets. Cole is hoping that there will be some new faces at the club by the time the new Premier League campaign kicks off at Stoke City.
"We just fell short last season, we had a lot of injuries so hopefully if we do bring players in we can strengthen the squad and kick on because we've got so many great players at Chelsea that we should be winning the league two times on the trot, which we didn't," said the England full-back.
"I think all teams would love to see fresh faces, but the age thing, it creeps up on players and as you get older you get knocks more and things like that. But they're very professional players at Chelsea and if we can add to that with maybe some younger players I don't see why we can't improve on last season and win the league, win the Champions League and win the FA Cup because we've got the players to do it.
"A lot of players' dreams are to win the Champions League. I have played in two finals, but of course we want to win – but we want to win any trophy."
Cole found himself in the front-page headlines earlier this year for an incident at the training ground when a work placement student was shot with an air rifle, while the relationship with his former wife Cheryl Cole continues to attract attention. The defender, however, will not let those issues see him lose focus.
"I have made mistakes and have just got to live with it," Cole added in an interview with BBC Sport. "I just wish people would judge me more on football and speak about football more than a life that people don't really know."
"If someone had actually seen the [shooting] incident – you wouldn't laugh because it was a stupid thing to do – but the whole situation was crazy. Of course it was an accident.
"But if I wanted to address every single thing in the paper I'd lose my mind. It makes me crazy now when I hear things. But like I say, you've just got to deal with it. I'm just here to play football. That's all I want to do."
Meanwhile, the former West Bromwich Albion manager Robert Di Matteo insists he will have no problems working as assistant to Villas-Boas. The Italian, sacked at The Hawthorns in February despite having won promotion the previous season, was unveiled as part of the new backroom staff at Stamford Bridge, where he spent six successful years as a player before injury forced him to retire in 2002.
Di Matteo, however, insists there will be no problems with his transition stepping back to a support role rather than being the head coach.
"It is obviously a challenge for me but I don't anticipate any problems," Di Matteo said. "I have got experience of being a manager, I know what it is like, and I know what it is to be a coach, so I have a bit of both and I am there to support Andre and any of the staff, to give what it takes for us to be successful. That's the ultimate challenge."
Di Matteo admitted it was an unexpected opportunity.
"His call came a bit out of the blue to be honest," said the 41-year-old, who also had an impressive stint as the manager of MK Dons before moving to Albion. "It is mostly based on the fact that he likes my football philosophy and that is why he wants me to be part of his team.
"I think he likes to play football and be positive and attacking and over the years if you have seen a game or two of the teams I coached I think we played the same way. I liked my teams to try and win games rather than not lose, to build, to pass. He is going to be in charge of it and we are going to be working the way he thinks is the right way to be successful."
At just 33, the Portuguese coach will be the youngest manager in the Premier League next season, having been appointed successor to the experienced Italian Carlo Ancelotti. After leaving Porto, where he secured domestic and Europa League success last season, it has been suggested Villas-Boas will find it difficult to command respect among the older squad members.
However, Cole, 30, feels Villas-Boas – no stranger to many of the players from his time at Stamford Bridge as a part of José Mourinho's backroom staff – will soon settle into his new role.
"Age is just a number, he has experience of being at Porto, a big club," Cole said in an interview with Sky Sports News. "Hopefully he can bring that glory to Chelsea, but I don't think the age thing is anything to worry about, I don't think the players think about that. He is our manager now and we have to go out and fight for him.
"Whatever manager comes in we respect him, we are not kids, everyone thinks there are egos at Chelsea, but there aren't and we have to make Chelsea the squad of a few years ago and win trophies."
The Chelsea players will return to the Cobham training ground for the start of pre-season training this week, with Villas-Boas maintaining there would be no immediate transfers or new arrivals until he had time to fully assess the current group, with a tour to the Far East ahead of the Asia Trophy coming up.
The Brazil international Neymar, Anderlecht's 18-year-old Belgium striker Romelu Lukaku, Tottenham Hotspur's Croatia midfielder Luka Modric as well as the Porto duo Radamel Falcao and João Moutinho are all reported targets. Cole is hoping that there will be some new faces at the club by the time the new Premier League campaign kicks off at Stoke City.
"We just fell short last season, we had a lot of injuries so hopefully if we do bring players in we can strengthen the squad and kick on because we've got so many great players at Chelsea that we should be winning the league two times on the trot, which we didn't," said the England full-back.
"I think all teams would love to see fresh faces, but the age thing, it creeps up on players and as you get older you get knocks more and things like that. But they're very professional players at Chelsea and if we can add to that with maybe some younger players I don't see why we can't improve on last season and win the league, win the Champions League and win the FA Cup because we've got the players to do it.
Cole found himself in the front-page headlines earlier this year for an incident at the training ground when a work placement student was shot with an air rifle, while the relationship with his former wife Cheryl Cole continues to attract attention. The defender, however, will not let those issues see him lose focus.
"I have made mistakes and have just got to live with it," Cole added in an interview with BBC Sport. "I just wish people would judge me more on football and speak about football more than a life that people don't really know."
"If someone had actually seen the [shooting] incident – you wouldn't laugh because it was a stupid thing to do – but the whole situation was crazy. Of course it was an accident.
"But if I wanted to address every single thing in the paper I'd lose my mind. It makes me crazy now when I hear things. But like I say, you've just got to deal with it. I'm just here to play football. That's all I want to do."
Meanwhile, the former West Bromwich Albion manager Robert Di Matteo insists he will have no problems working as assistant to Villas-Boas. The Italian, sacked at The Hawthorns in February despite having won promotion the previous season, was unveiled as part of the new backroom staff at Stamford Bridge, where he spent six successful years as a player before injury forced him to retire in 2002.
Di Matteo, however, insists there will be no problems with his transition stepping back to a support role rather than being the head coach.
"It is obviously a challenge for me but I don't anticipate any problems," Di Matteo said. "I have got experience of being a manager, I know what it is like, and I know what it is to be a coach, so I have a bit of both and I am there to support Andre and any of the staff, to give what it takes for us to be successful. That's the ultimate challenge."
Di Matteo admitted it was an unexpected opportunity.
"His call came a bit out of the blue to be honest," said the 41-year-old, who also had an impressive stint as the manager of MK Dons before moving to Albion. "It is mostly based on the fact that he likes my football philosophy and that is why he wants me to be part of his team.
"I think he likes to play football and be positive and attacking and over the years if you have seen a game or two of the teams I coached I think we played the same way. I liked my teams to try and win games rather than not lose, to build, to pass. He is going to be in charge of it and we are going to be working the way he thinks is the right way to be successful."
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